There is a lot of gear Mushers either have to or want to take with them. To see the mandatory equipment every musher must take, see page 6 of the Yukon Quest Rules.
There's not a lot of room in a sled, so everything has to fit.
The "cooker" is mandatory equipment. Mushers will start a fire in the outside can with holes in the bottom and then melt snow in the inside pail to make water so they can feed and water their dogs. Mushers also have to eat so will use this equipment to warm up their food.
The mushers mix the dog food and the hot water together to feed the dogs. They'll need a ladle to serve the meals. And every dog needs a dish.
The mushers must have at least 8 booties per dog. Booties come in all kinds of colors. Note the velcro straps at the bottom. That keeps them on the dog's feet.
Mushers want to make sure those booties are dry before they put them on their dogs. Yuka packages her's in plastic bags.
An axe is also mandatory equipment. Yuka told the students that's her favorite piece of equipment because she can do so much with it.
It can be very cold on the Quest trail – often colder than minus 40. Mushers carry coats to keep their dogs warm.
They made this special coat to help protect a cut on one of Yuka's dog's legs.
And Petunia modled a sheath protector male dogs use.
Dog harness. The red fabric goes over the dog's head.
Mushers have to pay very close attention to their dogs. They carry ointments for the dog's feet, medicines, bandaids – anything they may need to treat their dogs.
Yuka carrys these wraps for her dog legs. They have magnets to help with the healing. Here, Deb Knight shows how they work on one of the students.
Mushers also have to take the tools and parts needed to fix the sled – should anything break.
And all of this equipment has to fit inside the sled bag that has different compartments to help keep things organised.
Continue to the next page – Musher's Clothes.